Ministry of Education, Science and Technology says it is yet to disburse K11 billion to schools for implementation of free secondary education, but has assured that it will be done this week.
The ministry’s Principal Secretary Ken Ndala in an interview yesterday said that Treasury has released about K11 billion for disbursement to schools for the third term of the 2025/26 academic year which opened on April 20 2026.
good time. | Nation
On why the money was not made available before schools opened, he said this is the first month of the 2026/27 fiscal year, as such, processes needed to be completed from collection of taxes to the release of funds.
“As we move forward, we should be able to make the disbursements in good time,” said Ndala.
Earlier, the Secondary School Teachers Union (Sestu) said schools were struggling to access supplies for the third term due to lack of funds.
Sestu president Pilirani Kapolo in an interview said that as of last Friday, education divisions in the country had not yet begun disbursing funds to schools.
Association of Christian Educators in Malawi executive director Pascal Mtuwana asked for more time to check the situation in grant-aided schools.
However, he said some of the schools under the association did not receive full allocations during the second term.
Meanwhile, Civil Society Education Coalition executive director Benedicto Kondowe said releasing school funds late undermines planning and disproportionately affects vulnerable learners.
In the 2026/27 National Budget, the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralisation allocated K31.7 billion for free secondary education and K15.9 billion for free primary education.
An additional K11.3 billion was set aside for free national examinations and student identity cards.
Government introduced free secondary education effective January 1 2026, as part of fulfilling a Democratic Progressive Party manifesto pledge ahead of the September 16 General Election.
At the start of the second term on January 5, government disbursed K3.8 billion out of the earmarked K10 billion.
